First your furniture is carefully disassembled. Then we remove the finish using a safe and gentle hand stripping process. Not all antique or damaged furniture items require stripping. Many are good candidates for cleaning touch-up or French polish. If you wish to change the color or the old finish has been destroyed, then stripping will be necessary.
After stripping , all joinery is inspected for re-gluing and repairs. Then, if needed, we use steam to remove any dents in the wood surface. In some cases we can reduce the severity or completely eliminate warping and bowing of individual solid wood boards. This is the stage where all drawers, doors and other moving and mechanical parts are repaired for optimal functionality. If missing wood parts or veneers need reproducing, great care is taken to make these repairs as invisible and as seamless as possible.
Sanding and leveling
All of our sanding process is performed by hand. We use palm sanders and old fashion sanding blocks to smooth the wood evenly. This is the stage where all fillers are leveled and excess adhesive from repairs are removed. Once all surfaces are sanded satisfactorily, we contact you, the customer, to set an appointment to select the color we will stain your wood.
Today's home fashion trends people are choosing natural color or very light stain colors for their custom projects. In most cases we use a penetrating finishing oil as a vehicle to mix and apply your color selection. This adds a deep coat of penetrating preservative to your old dry wood. We apply the oil to all surfaces including outside backs and the inside of drawers. If your job requires a stain color match like a table top, we work very closely with you to make sure the color matches to your 100% satisfaction before we proceed with applying the finish coats.
All surfaces including the insides, under-side and inside of drawers are sealed with our spray applied finishes. This further preserves and protects your furniture. We offer a range of finishing top coat options and almost unlimited artistic finishing techniques. As we are a custom shop, we work very closely with our clients to achieve their desired effect.
Hand Rubbed Finishes
Faux finishing
Glazed, distressed and crackle finishes.
Colored lacquer
Clear lacquer
Painted opaque finishes.
Water borne Polyurethane finishes
Exterior Tong Oil finishes
After your finish is completed to our very high standards, your project is then reassembled and a very light coat of finishing wax is applied. If your furniture order gets upholstered then it is handed over to our expert upholsters to have the re-upholstery completed.
As part of our effort to assure your 100% satisfaction we make it a policy to invite you to come in and perform a final inspection before delivery is scheduled.
